TIRANA, Sept. 8, 2022 – As Iranian embassy officials burned documents into the night to meet a deadline to leave Albania within 24 hours after Tirana cut off diplomatic ties over the July cyber-attack now attributed to Iran, Tehran has issued a statement on the decision calling it “baseless” and “thoughtless.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the decision of the Albanian government was “thoughtless and short-sighted in international relations.”
In its statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said “third countries” had played the key role in “the wrong decision of Albania.”
Iran has accused the United States of being chiefly responsible. Tehran also accuses Albania of “hosting terrorists” after Tirana agreed, at the request of the United States, to offer asylum to hundrends of members of MEK, an Iranian dissident group.
The cyber-attack aimed at pressuring Albania on MEK, media analysts said.
Albania’s government broke off diplomatic relations with Iran after a decision led by Prime Minister Edi Rama Wednesday morning. He said the extreme measure was in proportion to the seriousness of the mid-July Iranian state-sponsored cyberattack that crippled Albanian government systems.
U.S.-based cybersecurity firm Mandiant had publicly attributed the attack to Iran in August.
“This is possibly the strongest public response to a cyber attack we have ever seen. While we have seen a host of other diplomatic consequences in the past, they have not been as severe or broad as this action,” said John Hultquist, the Mandiant’s vice president. “The attack on Albania is a reminder that while the most aggressive Iranian cyber activity is generally focused in the Middle East region, it is by no means limited to it. Iran will carry out disruptive and destructive cyber attacks as well as complex information operations globally.”
Support for Albania’s decision had poured in from NATO allies, including the United States and United Kingdom, which condemned the Iranian state for a cyber attack against Albania’s government that destroyed data and disrupted essential government services, including paying utilities, booking medical appointments and enrolling schoolchildren.
“Iran’s reckless actions showed a blatant disregard for the Albanian people, severely restricting their ability to access essential public services,” UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement. “The UK is supporting our valuable partner and NATO ally. We join Albania and other allies in exposing Iran’s unacceptable actions.”
A similar statement of support had come earlier from the White House.
“We will continue to support Albania’s remediation efforts over the longer-term, and we invite partners and Allies to join us in holding malicious cyber actors accountable and building a secure and resilient digital future,” said a statement by the White House’s NSC spokesperson, Adrienne Watson.
